The conflict within the Lebanese government surfaced again and questions are being raised about the ability of its components to maintain minimum cohesion in dealing with thorny issues, and about the steadfastness of the presidential compromise between the Free Patriotic Movement (of President Michel Aoun) and its allies, and al-Mustaqbal Movement (of PM Saad Hariri), the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported Saturday.

Lebanon’s porous border with Syria raises concerns amid recent reports claiming that Syrian nationals fleeing military service and others belonging to the Islamic State terror group have been smuggled illegally into Lebanon, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis has issued a statement marking the first anniversary of the Rome II Conference for supporting Lebanon's army and other security forces.

In the statement, Kubis reflected on Lebanon’s “commitment to strengthening the security, stability and sovereignty of the country and continuing relevance of the International community’s support to Lebanon as it works towards this endeavor.”

British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling and the Director General of the Internal Security Forces Major General Imad Othman co-chaired the quarterly Strategic Project Management Committee (SPMC) at the ISF Academy in Aramoun on Friday.

The military prosecution on Friday ordered the detention of one of the bodyguards of State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud over suspicions that he had received bribes in return for favors.

The National News Agency said the guard is a member of the State Security agency.

The Military Court on Friday sentenced the defendant Mustafa D. to one year in prison on charges of communicating with Israeli army Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee and an Israeli female officer, the National News Agency said.

“The convict had offered via the Facebook application to provide Adraee and the Israeli officer with security information about Lebanon, expressing his admiration of the state of Israel,” NNA said.

Lebanon denounced on Friday the deadly attack on two mosques in New Zealand that left around 49 individuals dead.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Imad Othman assured on Friday that his efforts to confront “internal corruption” will continue, and stressed that political interference will not wane his endeavors, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Thursday charged that the Brussels international conference was held to fund the naturalization of Syrian refugees in the countries they had fled to, as he stressed that “sectarianism will not save anyone” in the anti-corruption battle.

“The state and its reform are more important than any settlement, understanding or alliance, and even more important than the presidential tenure and the presidency, seeing as the state is more important than its president and he is in its service and not vice versa,” Bassil said at an FPM ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Liberation War.

Lebanese construction worker Ahmed al-Sareji has been killed at the hands of the extremist Boko Haram group, his brother said on Thursday.

Al-Sareji, who was born in 1965 in Haret Saida, had been abducted by the Islamist group around a week ago.